Hmerlcan fiDlsslonar? association 



JOS. K. BRICK AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL 
AND NORMAL SCHOOL. 



BY 



PROF. T. 5. INBORDEN. \^ 



287 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. 






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JOS. 



K. BRICK AGRICUI<TtJRAI/, INDUSTRIAI, AND NORMAI, 

SCHOOIy. 



L 



PROF. T. S. INBORDEN. 






BREWSTER HALL- BOYS GOING '1 DINNER. 



The Joseph Keasbey Brick Agricultural, Industrial and Normal 
School, situated three miles from Enfield, N. C, on the Atlantic Coast 
Line Railroad, was organized by the American Missionary Associa- 
tion in the fall of 
1895. 

The school was 
named in honor of 
Mr. Joseph Keas- 
bey Brick, of New 
York. The name 
also indicates the 
order in which em- 
phasis is placed 
upon the whole 
subject of Negro 
Education by its 
chief donor, Mrs. 
Julia E. Brick. No 
monument more 
fitting could be built to the memory of her husband than this school. 
Those who are most interested in the school must be congratulated 
on the fact that the American Missionary Association has direct super- 
vision of the work. Their experience in Negro education for fifty 
years, and their daily contact with the vital problems of this country, 

as related to the 

various races, gave 
them an insight 
into the situation 
that only a few in- 
dividuals and or- 
ganizations can 
have. So we con- 
gratulate our- 
selves. 

The school is 
typical in many 
respects. Its loca- 
tion is in the east- 
ern section of the 

BENEDICT HALL, BURNED FEBRUARY 5, I904. 




JOS. K. BRICK A., I. AND N. SCHOOL. 



State where there are practically no schools except eight or ten weeks 
of public school. This section is the Black Belt of the State. Colored 
people are very much in the majority. They live on the large plan- 
tations, and are engaged in farming. Some of them, even unlettered, 
have accumulated large farms of their own. Strange to say, most 
of the farms owned by these people were once owned by their 
masters. 

The mass of the colored people do not own their farms and do not 
educate their children. Their training has not been that way. One 
minister told me that he never encouraged his congregation to get 
homes and to educate their children, for those who did so would not 
support the gospel. 
They were too 
"close fisted." This 
explains two very 
important facts: 
I St. Colored people, 
unlettered, who 
own their own 
homes, do not take 
the lead in educat- 
ing their children 
because they think 
their children 
should come along 
as well without an 
education as they 
themselves. They 
are usually trying 
to buy more land. They argue that they cannot spare the money. 

2d. Those who have graduated from our best schools of the South 
do not support them as they should, not from lack of loyalty, but be- 
cause they, too, are trying to get comfortable homes. 

It is often said that it is useless to educate the Indian because he 
goes back to the war-dance and to the wigwams of the West to live 
the same old life again. This cannot be said of the Negro. Every 
educated Negro is trying to get a home and trying to have better 
things. He is interested in good government and good schools and 
everything that affects the interest of the community. 

Five years ago, when the school began, there was a great deal of 
prejudice against it on the part of both races. One of our white 
friends told us recently that he thought it would be a " mess." His 




THE principal's HOUSE. 



JOS. K. BRICK A., L AND N. SCHOOL. 



contact had been only with the ruder elements of the race, and per- 
haps his prejudice was born of true conviction. This prejudice 
hurt the school very much, for the enrollment was only a few for 
several months, only one of whom lived in the immediate community. 
The school owns one of the best farms in the State. While En- 
field, the post ofhce, is in Halifax Count}-, the school is located in 
Edgecombe County. It forms the juncture of three counties, and is 
crossed by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. 

When the school opened, the farm of 1,129 acres was almost a 
wilderness. Dikes had to be built along the creek for two miles to 
stop the overflow of water from our low grounds, thousands of feet of 
ditches had to be opened, fields cleared, bridges built, fences made for 

stock, stagnant 
pools and surface 
wells filled, roads 
had to be built, 
trees planted, .shel- 
ter for farm ani- 
mals and buildings 
for school purposes 
had to be built. In 
fact, a beginning in 
everything had to 
be made. Old build- 
ings impregnated 
with tj'phoid fever 
and other germs 
had to be absolutely 
destroyed to insure 
school conditions. 
The above cut is a representation of the barn with farm team in 
the foreground. 

Several men lived on the place whose wives lived in one house and 
they, with their "hired cook," liv-ed in another. We had to get rid of 
this kind of life also. We rebuilt, repaired and repeopled hou.ses 
with people who would sign written contract not to engage in any act 
which was out of harmony with the spirit of the school, emphasizing 
especially acts of immorality and drunkenness. We had no trouble 
in finding the kind of men we wanted, who were glad to have such 
opportunities as we offered. 

There are now seven renters on the farm. They pay as much 
rent now as they did before comiitg here, yet the conditions are such 




THE BARN. 



JOS. K. BRICK A., I. AND N. SCHOOL. 




A TENEMENT HOUSE. 



that they can meet their bills promptly. Since they came here to 
rent most of them have bought their farm animals and farm machin- 
ery. They furnish their own provisions, that is, the school furnishes 

nothing except 
land and advice. 
Their houses and 
yards are clean and 
neat, with flowers 
and other decora- 
tions. These fam- 
ilies send about 
thirty-two children 
to the day-school. 
They are respected 
in the community 
and can get credit 
when they need it. 
The illustration 
below is of a man and his wife who were bought and sold 
to several successive owners of the farm before the war. He says 
when "Mr. Linkum" sent him word that he was free that he decided 
to stay, as ho had dug all the ditches and planted all the trees about 
the "big house." He is yet our neighbor. Recently he bought him- 
self a home. 

With few exceptions, all the school work is done by students. 
They have hauled the material for the buildings, raised all the corn 
consumed, and other feed for 
the farm animals. They pro- 
vide the wood, haul the coal, 
do the janitoring, cultivate a 
large garden, care for the 
cows, do all the washing and 
house-cleaning, and do the 
cooking. From two to five 
thousand pounds of pork are 
killed yearly. Molasses cane 
and sweet potatoes form a 
very important part of the 
daily menu of the school; 
they are raised in great 
abundance. Peas and white 
potatoes are also raised. From 




TWO OLD SETTLERS. 



JOS. K. BRICK A., I. AND N. SCHOOL. 



two to four hundred gallons of canned fruit are put up every summer. 
Many of the mattresses now in use were made by the students. In 
the sewing-room about thirty-five dresses have been made by daily 
classes, besides other articles. 
In the manual training shop a 
good deal of practice work has 
been done in the way of mak- 
ing dormitory tables and keep- 
ing up ordinary repairs. This 
is done aside from the regular 
class-work. 

More recently there has 
been added an aermotor power 
mill for pumping water for the 
various buildings. 

A side track has been built 
for the school freight. We hope 
soon to have local accommoda- 
tion bj' the passenger trains. 

The enrollment of the school 
for the present year is 209, with 
over 100 in the boarding depart- 
ment. 

Most of our students are very poox, and were it not for the oppor- 
tunities here to work their way they would not be in any school. 
They undergo all sorts of hardships and privations to come. Several 
have walked over a hundred miles to attend. 

Their purpose is all right. One boy says his highest ambition is 

to be a better 
workman than 
anyone else. One 
girl says she 
wants to master 
the art of cooking 
and sewing so 
that she can teach 
these two branch- 
es in some indus- 
trial school. 

A glance at 

our catalogue will 

RECITATION HALL. show that we are 




HAND WORK. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



JOS. K. BRICK A., I. AND N. SCHOOL. 029 501 547 ^ 

dealing with fundamental principles and primary conditions of 
life. 

The only limitation to the growth of the school is a financial one 
to make it equal to any in the South of its kind. 

The location is unique, only fifteen hours' ride from New York, 
and five hours' ride from Washington City, and that without change 
of cars. 















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